Asuka's Redemption
by ScarabDrowner
Summary: Asuka pushes Shinji too far, causing him to snap and lash out at her violently. Will she be able to win back his trust... and love? 6/5/09 Update: back again after a long unintentional absence. Let's see if I can pick up where I left off, eh?
1. Impact

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or concepts of Neon Genesis Evangelion. They are owned by Gainax and ADVision.

Wednesday, September 10, 2003

Asuka's Redemption

By ScarabDrowner

Chapter 1

Impact

Shinji stepped through the door of his room, a strange little smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. He had spent most of the night thinking about what had happened the day before, about the fight that he and Asuka had had. He regretted being so cruel to her, and had tossed and turned in his bed, unable to sleep because of it. Part of him still felt she deserved it, but the part of him that was in love with her had eventually won out.

He had decided to apologize to her, hoping that the rift between them hadn't already grown irreparably large. Although the insomnia caused by his regret had eventually passed, it was soon replaced by the insomnia of trying to decide how best to apologize. He had finally reached a decision only 25 minutes ago, and that was the main reason for his smile.

He would cook for her a special breakfast consisting of all the foods she had ever complained about missing from home. He would make it the best breakfast she had ever had. His plan was to also deliver his apology, which had taken him over 2 hours to compose, while she was eating, hoping her mouth would be too occupied for her to interrupt him. He knew Asuka would still be asleep for the next few hours, so he had time enough to make everything perfect.

As he began cooking, Shinji's mind began to wander, going back to that fight. He could see it happen almost as clearly as if he were watching a movie...

* * *

They had just finished dinner. Misato was still at Headquarters, working the night shift. As Shinji started washing the dishes, Asuka, still seated at the table sipping her soda, decided it was time to go into one of her rants again.

"Tsk! I can't believe that WonderGirl."

Shinji rolled his eyes. **_Here we go again_**, he thought, thankful his back was to her so she wouldn't notice his expression.

Asuka continued, "Always doing whatever the Commander asks her to. You know, she told me once that she would die if he ordered her to. Can you believe that?" Asuka laughed disdainfully. "I wouldn't be surprised if that's not the only thing he'd order her to do."

"Wha... what!?!" Shinji couldn't believe what he was hearing. He almost dropped the plate he was washing as he spun around. "He woul... she... Rei would never do anything like that!"

"Oh really?" Asuka sneered. The predatory smile on her face causing Shinji to back up a step. "What would you know about it, Third?"

He always hated the way she said his "title." It was almost condescending, and he could have sworn that she knew it too. Why else would she always talk to him that way, if not to purposefully grate on his nerves?

"You're such an idiot," she continued. "I don't know why I waste my time even trying to talk to you."

Unwilling to get into another fight with Asuka, Shinji turned around again to finish washing the dishes.

"Heh," she scoffed, "just as I thought. The Mighty Shinji running away again. What is your problem? I mean, is there a clinical term for what is wrong with you?"

**_Just let it go, Shinji_**, he thought to himself. **_It's not worth it. She'll get bored of this soon enough_**. He never noticed his hand begin to flex from the anger starting to rise within him.

But she didn't stop. She kept right on going. She was on such a roll, however, that she never even noticed herself going way past the proverbial line. "No wonder your mother left you. You're so damn pathetic that she couldn't stand to be near you any longer. Hell, if it weren't for those stupid angels, I'd probably leave too, just to get away from you."

That did it. Something inside Shinji snapped. If his back hadn't been turned to her, she might have noticed the rage flash through his eyes. Instead, all she noticed was his trembling, and a whisper she could barely hear.

"That's enough," Shinji said, his voice barely audible.

"What was that, Third Child?" Asuka sneered. "Crying again are we? Geez, you really are pathetic!" she said, mistaking the cause of his trembling.

"That's enough," he repeated, slightly louder this time. His hand stopped flexing. Instead, it stayed clenched up into as tight a fist as he could manage.

"Oh, come on, you wimp!" Asuka said irritably. "If you're gonna say something, at least say it loud enough for others to hear. Baka!"

Shinji turned around, his eyes glaring at the redhead. She barely had time to notice the anger in his eyes before she was knocked out of her chair by the force of his slap.

"I said, 'THAT'S ENOUGH'!" Shinji roared.

"Shin...ackk..."

Her words got cut off as he put one hand on her throat, picking her up and pinning her against the wall.

"Shut up, you... you bitch!" Shinji yelled in her face. "Just shut up and listen for once in your damn life!"

She opened her mouth to reply, but the slight squeeze on her throat prompted her to close it again. She couldn't believe what was happening. Her whole body seemed to go numb from shock, as if her own internal power had just reached 00:00.

"Good," he said as he relaxed his hand just a bit. "Who the hell do you think you are? Wait... no, I know who you think you are. You think that you are Little Miss Perfect who's so good at everything that nobody else in the entire world deserves the slightest bit of respect!" He leaned in closer, whispering in her ear, "But I know what you really are."

Asuka's eyes went wide as he moved back, giving her a cruel grin. **_Mein Gott!_** she thought. **_What's happened to Shinji? This isn't my Shinji!_**

"Do you want to know what you really are, Asuka? You're nothing more than a spoiled little brat who's afraid of her own fucking shadow. And because you're so afraid, you do whatever you can to insult and degrade others, just so you can stand to wake up the next morning." He scoffed, "Heh... to think, I once thought that I loved you."

To say Asuka was stunned by this situation would be an understatement the size of her ego, but she found herself downright shocked at his confession. While it was true that she harbored secret feelings for Shinji in her heart, she never expected him to feel that way about her too. She had hoped that they would eventually be a couple, but hearing that he had loved her before and that he obviously doesn't now crushed her heart more completely than any Angel could. To have the love of her life so close only to drive it away by acting stupid was almost too much for her to bear.

Shinji saw the shock in her eyes. "Huh... so you didn't know that, did you? I can't say I'm surprised. You always were too full of yourself to care about how others felt."

"Shinji, I..." Asuka tried to explain herself, but Shinji's hand slammed her back against the wall, causing her to see stars.

"I'M NOT FINISHED!!" Shinji yelled. "I did love you once. I even dreamed that someday you would love me back." Asuka noted that instead of the pure anger which had filled Shinji's eyes so far, there was now a trace of sadness as well. "But it has been made quite clear to me that you are incapable of such kindness."

Shinji's hand trembled on her neck as he fought to maintain the strength that has sustained him this far. "I don't want to see you ever again. Outside of school and NERV, I will have nothing more to do with you. As far as I'm concerned, you died in that last attack."

With that, Shinji released her throat with a shove, and walked back to his room.

* * *

As the memories replayed themselves for him, Shinji was again overwhelmed by a strong sense of regret. He hoped that his plans for this morning would at least make things a little better.

A few minutes later, Misato came home from her night shift, looking dead on her feet. "Morn', Shinji," Misato greeted him drowsily before grabbing her customary morning beer from the fridge.

Shinji waited for her to finish her equally customary morning whoop before replying. "Good morning, Misato."

"Wow, that smells great, Shinji! That's not our normal breakfast, is it? What's the occasion?" Misato inquired with a twinkle in her eye. "Did Asuka finally get you to propose?"

Shinji nearly burned himself on the sausages he was frying as he whirled around, shocked. "Oh, no Misato! That... that's not it... nothing happened, really. I just felt like being nice to everyone today."

He was saved from Misato's teasing as the phone decided to ring at that moment. With an irritated sigh, Misato got up to answer it.

"Hello? ... What? ... For how long? ... Did she say why? ... Ok, I understand. ... Thanks for letting me know. ... Bye."

Misato hung up the phone, a concerned look on her face. As she went to sit back down to finish her third beer, Shinji noticed her expression.

"Who was that, Misato? Is everything ok?" he asked.

"Everything's fine, Shinji. That was just Hikari calling to let me know that Asuka had gone over to stay with her for the next few days, although she couldn't give me any reason," she said, taking another swig from her beer. "All she said was Asuka had shown up late last night at her house crying, asking if she could stay there. Needless to say, I'm a little worried about her."

Misato was shaken from her thinking by the sound of Shinji's fork hitting the floor. Before she could ask him what was the matter, he was already at Asuka's door, knocking softly.

"Asuka, are you in there?" he asked, not wanting to believe she had gone. Not so soon. Not now, when he was making his best meal ever just for her. Not getting a reply, he slowly slid the door open and peeked in. The bed was empty, but not made. There were clothes all over the floor, as if she had scrambled to pack in a hurry. Shinji felt his heart sink as he realized what had happened. This was his fault. He told her he wanted her gone, and now she was. How would he be able to apologize to her now? He shut her door again before walking slowly back to his room, ignoring the smell of meat burning on the stove.

"What now..." he whispered to himself as he collapsed on his bed.

* * *

"What now..." Asuka whispered to herself, still wrapped up in blankets on the spare bed in Hikari's room. Her eyes were still red from crying all night, and she didn't sleep at all as memories of their confrontation haunted her. "What do I do now? I've made the only person in the whole world whom I truly care about hate me. He... he said he once loved me. How can I go to school, where I'll see him all day, knowing how he feels about me, how he once felt?" she sobbed, the tears threatening to return. "I just don't know what to do anymore."

"Morning, sleepyhead!" Hikari said cheerfully, returning from downstairs with some breakfast for her guest. Asuka shrunk back under the blankets. "Oh, come on now, get up. I've got some breakfast here for you. You've gotta eat something, or you'll become nothing but skin and bones. Then what would Shinji say?"

She heard Asuka's gasp when she mentioned Shinji's name, followed by the sound of soft crying.

**_Oh no_**, Hikari thought. **_Something must have happened between them_**. She had always known Asuka felt something for Shinji, but she didn't expect this reaction from the usually-fiery redhead. "Asuka," she said softly, "what's wrong? Did that baka Shinji do something to you?" Just the thought of Shinji making Asuka cry for whatever reason started making Hikari mad. "Oooo!" Hikari fumed, "Next time I see that stooge! He'll wish he never..."

"No," Asuka whispered, cutting off Hikari's plans for revenge. "It's not what Shinji's done, it's... it's what I... I've done. What I've done... to him." Unable to control herself any longer, Asuka broke down crying again into her pillow. "I was so horrible to him yesterday, Hikari, and now he... he hates me," she said in between sobs.

Hikari was taken aback by all this. "He hates you? You're sure?" she asked, surprised.

Asuka nodded under her blankets, still crying softly. "He... he said that he... that he never wanted to see me again. He said that I was already dead to him!" The last few words came out strangled, as she started crying harder than ever.

'Oh dear, this is bad,' Hikari thought. "Come on, Asuka," she said in a comforting tone, "I'm sure it can't be that bad. Why, I bet that he's at school right now wanting to apologize." **_He had better apologize_**, she thought to herself. **_Or else!_** "Now come on and eat your breakfast and get ready before we're late for school."

Asuka curled up even tighter under the blankets. "I... I can't, Hikari," she whispered. "I can't go to school today, not with him there. Please, Hikari, can I stay here today? Please?"

Hikari thought about it for a few seconds before giving in, "Ok, you can stay here. I'll come back at lunch time to see how you're doing, ok?" Asuka only nodded. **_I'm gonna find out just what Shinji did to make her cry like this_**, Hikari thought. **_He had better have a damn good explanation, and an even better apology!_** "I have to go to school now Asuka. Are you sure you're going to be ok?"

Asuka nodded. "Thanks, Hikari."

"No problem. I'll be back in a little while," Hikari said as she headed out to face a certain Eva pilot who had no idea what was in store for him.

Continued...

Author's Notes:

Well, here you go, my very first ever Eva Fic. Actually, it's my very first fic period. I know it's short, but that's all I had in me at the time. This is actually a remake of my first attempt, which got shot down as being an "Asuka Bash-a-Thon." While it was never intended as such, I can see where that impression would come from. It was my opinion that something drastic had to happen to Asuka to make her realize just what she's been doing to Shinji. This fic is tentatively set sometime after the 15th angel, which I hope might help explain why Asuka didn't react the way she might have usually. I just hope that this reworking of the fic will help bring my original intent into view, since the original couldn't. Stay tuned for Chapter 2, Survival.

Ja!


	2. Survival

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or concepts of Neon Genesis Evangelion. They are owned by Gainax and ADVision.

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Asuka's Redemption

By ScarabDrowner

Chapter 2

Survival

Later that morning, in the Tokyo 3 school attended by the three Evangelion pilots, a somewhat livid Hikari anxiously paced back and forth within the A-2 classroom, waiting for Shinji to arrive. She had already heard enough of Asuka's side of the story that morning to learn that something very bad had happened between the two pilots, and had concluded on her own that Shinji was to blame for her houseguest's current condition. She intended to confront the shy pilot and thoroughly chew him out for what he did to her friend. All that changed, however, when she saw him enter the classroom looking as if he were attending his mother's funeral. It came as quite a shock to Hikari that Shinji seemed to be just as depressed as Asuka was. Still having some time before the rest of the class would arrive, she decided to go ahead and get this over with. She was going to find out exactly what happened once and for all.

"Shinji?" she said as she walked over to his desk.

Shinji turned on hearing his name, and spotted the class rep. "Hikari! Where's Asuka? Did she come to school with you?" he asked, looking around hopefully.

Hikari noticed his eyes looked a bit red, as if he'd been crying, but they also seemed... empty. "N... no, Shinji, she's back at my place. She wasn't feeling well enough to come in today." Concerned, she sat down in the desk next to his. "Asuka told me what happened last night." Hikari was somewhat relieved to see some kind of life in his eyes after she mentioned Asuka's name, even if it was a look of pure sorrow. At least he wasn't completely gone.

Shinji's face fell, and his head dropped down onto his desk as he heard that. "Oh," he replied dully. "How is she doing?"

"Not good. What you did to her last night sure messed her up pretty good. I've never seen her like this before," Hikari said coldly. Some of her earlier anger was starting to come back now. "Just what the hell were you thinking, you idiot?"

"I don't know," he whispered, before lifting his head to look at her. "I... I got... angry at some things she said, things she always says, and then I just lost it. I... hit her. I don't know what came over me, but when she started talking about my mother I got so mad I hit her." As he sat there relating the events of the previous night, he started trembling again, only this time from sorrow and shame rather than anger.

"That's it? You hit her?" Hikari asked incredulously. "That's not what I was told."

"You're right. That wasn't all. You should learn to let other people finish their stories first, class rep," he said with a sad smile before continuing. "After I hit her I picked her up and held her against the wall, then everything just came out, all of the mean and cruel things that had been building up inside me ever since she first arrived. But the insults weren't the worst of it. The worst part of last night was when I told her that as far as I was concerned, she had died in the last angel attack, and how I didn't want to see her ever again." Tears were slowly rolling down his cheeks as he reached the end of his story. "I was so stupid," he whispered as he got up and ran out of the classroom.

"Shinji! Wait!" Hikari called out after him, but it was too late. He was gone, and the rest of the class was about to arrive. Slowly she got up, walked over to her desk, and tried her best to prepare for the day.

* * *

Asuka was standing in the middle of a grassy meadow in the Geofront. She thought she was alone, but then she heard a rumbling behind her. When she turned around, there stood Shinji in his Eva looking down at her. "I thought that I told you I didn't want to see you anymore," his angry voice boomed down from the heights above her. Having said that, the giant bio-mechanical beast lifted its leg, as if it were preparing to step on an ant.

"Shinji! Wait! I wanted to tell you I was sorry!" she cried out, trying to make him understand. Her words had no effect however, and the foot started coming down above her rapidly. "Stop! Shinji!" she yelled, but the foot continued its descent. "I love you!" she screamed, just before the foot crashed down on top of her.....

Asuka woke with a start, the vivid images of her nightmare already fading away in her mind. She shook her head lightly, trying to shake off the lingering effects of the nightmare. As she did so, she suddenly realized she wasn't in her room. **_Where am I?_** She looked around, confused. Then she remembered. She was at Hikari's house, having run away from Misato's apartment the night before. Her mind went back to that night, to the fight that she and Shinji had...

She was lying in her bed crying, still recovering from the shock of what had happened, trying to comprehend just what had occurred. "Maybe I can talk to him in the morning, I hope he won't still be mad," she whispered to herself, but then she remembered what he had told her.

"I don't ever want to see you again." Another tear fell on her pillow as his words echoed in her head.

"No, he won't want to see me; he doesn't want to see me anymore. He wants me gone." She thought about it for a few more seconds, and then finally settled on a decision. She got out of bed, threw on a pair of pants and a shirt, and quickly packed up some of her remaining clothes and other items she thought she might need. Slipping out of her room quietly, she tiptoed to the front door and put on her shoes. Giving one last look to the apartment, she whispered, "Goodbye Misato, goodbye Shinji," before walking out the door and running off crying into the night.

* * *

The rumble of her stomach brought her back to the present. Looking around, she noticed the tray of breakfast that Hikari had left for her before going to school. "What am I going to do?" she asked herself as she picked up the tray and began eating. A quick look around the room revealed very little which she could entertain herself with, other than the TV and a game console. "I suppose I could play a few games," she mumbled around a piece of toast, "perhaps it will help take my mind off of... stuff."

Once she finished eating, she stood and walked over to the TV, turning both it and the game console on before loading up her favorite fighting game. Hikari knew what kind of games Asuka liked and had a few of them herself, which proved handy in case Asuka asked to spend the night, as she did on several occasions.

The game, however, did not have the desired effect. As her on-screen character fought ruthlessly against her foes, another, quieter battle raged on within Asuka's mind. Try as she might to block out or ignore the images of her fight with the Third Children, one line in particular always seemed to break through any walls that she put up: "To think, I once thought that I loved you."

Having lost yet another match to the computer, she shut the game off in frustration. "Stupid game," she spat at it, angry that it couldn't provide the escape that she had hoped for.

Frustrated, she gave up trying to ignore her memories, and instead thought about them willingly. "He said that he once loved me," she said to herself quietly. "But after what happened yesterday, I doubt he still does." Her mind replayed the scene over and over again as if it were a scratched phonograph record. "Wait," she gasped as her mind latched onto a previously unnoticed detail. "His eyes... they were angry like before... but when he said that he loved me... there was something else." She struggled to hold onto the image of his face at that moment. "Was it... could it have been... sadness?" The thought that there had been something there other than anger somehow seemed to ease her mind a little. "Perhaps," she whispered, "it's not too late. Maybe I can..." she paused, almost not daring to hope. "Maybe I can win him back."

Things were looking down for the redhead, but she couldn't see how they could get any worse. "It can only get better from here," she said hopefully as she got dressed in her school uniform. Regaining a little bit of her usual fire, she said, "I'll make him see what he's missing. I, Asuka Langley Sohryu, am going to take back my Shinji!" With a newfound sense of determination, she set out for school to face the past, and her future.

EOC - TBC

Author's Notes:

Whoo... There it is folks, chapter two! For a long time, I was wondering if I'd ever be able to pull this one together. It took me a while, but here it is. Hope you like it. I tried to keep it balanced, since chapter one was mostly about Shinji with a little bit of Asuka thrown in, so I made this one mostly about Asuka, with a little bit of Shinji. Hopefully chapter three will balance itself out on its own. Yes, I am planning on a third chapter. I'm not sure if it will go on to four or more, depends on how the story goes. So, stay tuned for Chapter 3: Reconstruction.

Ja!

12-Sep-04  
Made some slight changes to fix a small inconsistency in the story.


	3. Reflection

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or concepts of Neon Genesis Evangelion. They are owned by Gainax and ADVision.

Sunday, September 12, 2004

Asuka's Redemption

By ScarabDrowner

Chapter 3

Reflection

Getting out of the school and away from the students making their way to class, Shinji started wandering aimlessly through the town, trying to both calm himself down and try to figure out what to do.

No matter how much he may have hoped that his walk would help clear his head of the recent bad memories, his thoughts always seemed to find themselves back on the subject of the fiery redhead he lived with. _**Why does she hate me so much?**_ he wondered as he made a random turn to follow a quiet street. _**What was it that I did to her after she got here that made her hate me so much? Don't I do everything for her? I try to be nice to her, but all I get in return is a slap to the face.**_

As a memory of one of Asuka's more recent attacks flashes through his mind, Shinji recalls how it felt to return the favor. _**Boy, if she hated me before when I was nice to her, how is she going to treat me now that I've done this to her? Will I ever see her again? She ran out pretty quickly, before I had a chance to apologize.**_ He rounded another corner. _**Wait, why should I be the one to apologize? She's the one who started the whole thing!**_ His anger flared slightly as the memory of her words echoed across his mind. _**Even so, I still want to see her again. Gah! Why can't I stop thinking about her? Why did I have to fall in love with someone whose only purpose seems to be to make my life a living hell?**_

Without realizing it Shinji had walked clear out of town and was presently trudging up a hill, still lost in his thoughts. _**Why did I even bother trying to impress her with that breakfast? She probably wouldn't even have noticed, and would still have tried to find any reason to yell at me again.**_ His shoulders slumped a little bit as the fight replayed itself in his mind. _**Not that she would have needed any other reason to yell at me. Though she shouldn't have said those things about my mother! That was going too far, even for her.**_

Shinji suddenly stopped as realization hit him. _**I'm still mad at her. I want to apologize to her, but I'm still mad about the things she said. Why am I hoping to receive her forgiveness for hitting her while I'm still not able to forgive her?**_ He blinked, finally looking around him, taking note of his surroundings for the first time since he left the school.

"How'd I get here?" he asked nobody in particular. In front of him stretched the city of Tokyo-3 in all its glory. He had somehow made his way to the same lookout point that Misato had taken him to after his first battle inside Eva Unit-01.

The sight before him tossed him into a flashback of the first time he visited this spot. Misato was telling him how this was the city he had saved by not running away and agreeing to pilot the bio-mechanical behemoth. But he remembered thinking no, he didn't pilot Eva to save the city. He had agreed to get into the giant robot in order to protect the injured girl whom they were going to send in his place. At first, she was his reason for piloting. He did it to protect Rei.

However, it didn't take him long to discover that she did not desire his protection or his friendship. She rarely talked to him, or anyone else even, and was almost constantly putting herself in the most dangerous positions during their battles together. As he began finding himself more and more tuned out by the quiet albino, he looked for other reasons to get into the entry plug.

His father. Perhaps if he did as his father wished and piloted Eva well enough alongside this new girl, maybe his father would accept him again. But that too was a dream shattered all too easily by the Commander's icy personality.

It was then, a few months after the arrival of Asuka, the noisy, brash German pilot, that he started seeing her in a new light. A few kind words here and there (few and far between, actually), plus the week spent with her in synchronization training helped Shinji start to admire her for her self-confidence and strength.

From there, it wasn't too big of a step for him to start loving her for those same qualities, even though he didn't realize it until the attack on the angel in the volcano. He was nervous, worried for her safety, but ultimately confident in her ability to defeat the angel. However, as he watched the dying angel rip her support cables and coolant lines, he realized he was going to lose her.

That very thought proved to be all it took for him to jump unprotected into the lava to try to save her. Even if he missed and wasn't able to grab her in time, then he wouldn't have to worry about living long without her. Fortunately, grab her he did, and upon seeing the small smile she gave him while saying her favorite nickname for him, "Baka", in the sweetest voice he ever heard, he realized he was lost.

Since that day, she had been the driving force in his life. He tried to do everything better, from cooking to piloting, in the hope that someday she too would respect and admire and possibly even love him back. This latest development, however, put a damper on all that. If, after all this time, she still hasn't shown an ounce of respect for him, then what chance did he have in the long run?

Hearing a distant clap of thunder, Shinji looked up to see a mass of dark clouds gathering on the horizon, the random flashes of light announcing its approach. Not wanting to get caught in the rain, he stood up and turned back, heading for the apartment. _**I need to talk with her. Maybe there's still a chance**_.

* * *

With a loud slam of the door, Asuka burst into the classroom panting after having run all the way from Hikari's house. At first glance, however, she thought she was in the wrong room. Instead of the sounds of students chatting in between classes, or the teacher droning on in his lecture, the room was unnaturally silent. For that matter, the classroom was unnaturally empty as well. It wasn't until her glance stole to the clock on the wall that she realized what was going on. _**Ack, it's already lunchtime! I'd better hurry and find Shinji before the break is over**_, Asuka thought.

Trying to think of all the different places Shinji may be eating his lunch, Asuka began her search. _**I know he's gotta be around here somewhere**_. Then she remembered how often Shinji eats lunch on the roof with his friends, and decided to head in that direction. Poking her head out the door leading onto the roof, she caught the glimpse of two familiar shapes by the fence. The absence of a third shape usually present with the other two in particular caught her attention. "Hey, numbskulls! Where's that idiot friend of yours!" she yelled, putting on her usual mask of eternal irritation.

"What's it to you, devil?" Touji countered, upset from having his peaceful lunch interrupted by the likes of her. "Haven't you had enough of using him as your personal punching bag yet?"

Asuka inwardly cringed at the accusation, knowing just how true it was, but her pride wouldn't allow her to admit it in front of these two. So instead, she put her hand on her stomach, trying to disguise it as a severe hunger pang. "No, you neanderthal, that idiot has gone and forgotten to give me my lunch! Now tell me where he is so I can make sure he doesn't forget again!" she yelled back. _**That should be convincing enough**_, she thought.

"Well, sorry to disappoint ya demon, but we haven't seen him at all today," Touji answered with a look of disinterest.

"Yeah, we figured you guys had NERV duties again or something, since neither of you showed up. By the way, why are you so late today, hmm?" Kensuke chimed in accusingly.

"Hmph! Like it's even the business of you two." With that, Asuka turned and disappeared back into the stairwell leading down into the school building.

**_Where could he be?_** she asked herself. _**It's not like him to miss school when we don't have duties at NERV.**_ Lost in her thoughts, she barely even noticed when she bumped into another classmate in the hallway. "Watch where you're going, dummkopf!" she yelled automatically, not even thinking to turn to see who she had collided with.

"Asuka?" a familiar voice called to her.

Pulled back to reality, Asuka turned around to face the source of the voice. "Hikari? Sorry, didn't see you there," she apologized.

"What are you doing here Asuka? I thought you weren't going to come today?" the class rep asked, concerned.

With a toss of her long auburn hair over her shoulders, the Eva pilot replied, "Eh, I got bored. You really need to get more games Hikari."

"Uhhuh," Hikari said, not believing her friend. "You came looking for Shinji didn't you?" The blush on Asuka's face told her all she needed to know. "I thought so. You really should have come with me this morning, then you could have talked to him."

"Shinji was here? When? The two stooges told me he never showed up today!" Asuka rambled.

"Calm down, Asuka!" Hikari admonished her friend. "He was here earlier, but he left again before anyone else showed up."

"Left? Where did he go?"

"No clue. He seemed so depressed when he ran out, I don't think even he knew where he was going," the freckled girl recalled.

"De... Depressed? He didn't seem mad or anything?" Asuka wondered.

"Nope, he seemed completely depressed over what he told me had happened. He was afraid he'd never see you again, because of what he had done and said."

"Hmm, I've gotta find him. Could you grab any printouts for me, Hikari? I'll come by later to pick them up, ok? Thanks!" Asuka called back as she ran out of the building, ignoring the signs of the rapidly approaching storm above.

* * *

EOC - TBC

Well, there's chapter 3. Sorry it took so long, but I had to suffer through a short period with a complete lack of inspiration. As I mentioned before, I have no idea where this story's going. My own fault, I guess, for not planning it out before I started writing. It started out pretty much as a spur of the moment type thing, something I just had to get out of my head and onto paper... electronic or otherwise. Rest assured, though, that I do have some ideas brewing for chapter 4. Hopefully it won't take me as long to crank that one out. Thanks for all the great reviews so far, they're really just what I need to get motivated enough to try to continue this story .


	4. Story Update News

Hi guys, I'm back. I apologize for my long absence, due to both military service and severe computer failure, the latter of which annihilated my story notes and outlines. I do plan on continuing this story, so please give me a little more time to get reacquainted with the story, and I may yet be able to resurrect this beast. Thank you for your continued interest and your positive reviews. I'll try not to let you down. ^_^

Edit: this is not going to be a rewrite, but more of a continuation. The first three chapters will remain as-is, with perhaps a small edit here and there. I have started work on chapter 4, but I don't know when I'll have it ready for publishing. I'll try to keep you updated.

Thanks for reading! ^_^


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